Internet of Things market to reach $1.7 trillion by 2020

The global Internet of Things market will grow to $1.7 trillion in 2020 from $655.8 billion in 2014, research firm IDC says, as more devices come online and a bevy of platforms and services grow up around them. The firm predicts that the number of “IoT endpoints,” connected devices such as cars, refrigerators and everything in between, will grow from 10.3 million in 2014 to more than 29.5 million in 2020. Devices, connectivity and IT services are expected to account for the majority of the global IoT market in 2020, with devices alone accounting for 31.8% of the total. Purpose-built platforms, storage, security, application software and “as a service” offerings are expected to capture a greater percentage of revenue as the market matures.

Market Opportunity for RFID Smart Cabinet Systems in Healthcare

Adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) is increasing in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, especially in the areas of assets tracking, supply chain management, and inventory management, according to a new report, which provides an overview of the application of radio frequency identification (RFID) in the healthcare industry

-Hospitals are the major end users of RFID smart cabinets, with catheterisation laboratories (cath labs), operating rooms (ORs), and surgical departments being the major application areas. Pharmaceuticals are also employing RFID to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the supply chain. RFID is also being used in warehouse management. The uptake of RFID smart cabinets, currently medium, is likely to be high over the next - years. The growing need to improve efficiency and outcome in healthcare settings is a major driver for the utilisation of RFID smart cabinets in inventory management and asset tracking of equipment and supplies.

23B NFC chips will ship worldwide in 2020, report says

Manufacturing near field communication (NFC) chips is a good business to be in right now, as contactless mobile payments and the Internet of Things become major themes in technology during the next few years. A new study from Semico Research said 23 billion NFC chips will ship worldwide in 2020. NFC chips generate a short-range radio signal for the secure transmission of sensitive financial and authentication data.

Beacons Bring Visibility to Cleaning Service Staff Work

Lighthouse, an Australian provider of a cloud-based software platform that integrates mobile apps with Bluetooth beacons, has opened an office in the United States in a bid to grow the customer base for its enterprise-based beacon solution. Cleaning and maintenance service provider Spotless is utilizing the system to manage its workers at malls in Australia.

BBVA adds card controls to mobile wallet

Spanish bank BBVA has updated its BBVA Wallet app, allowing customers to use their mobile phone to limit plastic cards for ecommerce or ATM withdrawals, as well as turning cards ‘on’ and ‘off’ at any time. “The new version turns our customers’ smartphones into a remote control to do whatever they want with their cards,” says BBVA’s Mehmet Sezgin.

Internet of Things breathes new life into RFID technology

About a decade or so ago, it was almost impossible to find a tech analyst who wasn't predicting that radio-frequency identification (RFID) would soon change the world. While RFID eventually became a useful tool in retail, logistics, healthcare and a handful of other enterprise sectors, the technology largely lurked in the shadows while other truly transformative concepts, such as social media and streaming entertainment, grabbed the spotlight. Now, with RFID well into its second decade of adoption, the technology's proponents are busily prepping for a second act. Nina Turner, a research manager
 at IDC, notes that while RFID failed to live up to its lofty initial expectations, "its future is far from hopeless."

Charlotte Fire Department adds QR codes for better communication

According to the communication center at the Charlotte Fire Department, there have now been QR codes applied to the field communication cars in order to better be able to connect with people. The benefit that they are hoping to gain from the quick response codes is in connecting with the citizens.

These QR codes allow people to be able to scan the sides of the vehicles in order to discover more about the communications division as well as its rescue units. These scans can be made using virtually any smartphone or tablet that has a free barcode reader app. This type of use of the barcodes has become quite commonplace in marketing, but the cost effectiveness also makes it appealing for other areas, as well.

Amazon Announces Program With Auburn RFID Lab

During the official opening of the RFID Lab at Auburn University last week, Dave Clark, Amazon's senior VP of worldwide operations and customer service, announced that his company was partnering with the lab to conduct research into how radio frequency identification might be integrated into Amazon's existing high-tech fulfillment centers. "We are partnering with the lab to develop new solutions for implementing RFID in our Amazon supply chain, specifically focused on tagging and driving inbound items through our fulfillment process," Clark explained

Google Unveils Android Pay App for NFC Based Mobile Payments

Google aimed the fastest-growing payment market since the launch of Apple pay, on 28th May, 2015 it has unveiled Android Pay app for NFC based mobile payments. The vice president of engineering Dave Burke has unveiled the app during the Google I/O 2015 Keynote. Android Pay is the latest payments scheme, it will work in any phone which has an NFC chip and running with KitKat version of the OS. It will acceptable at around 700,000 US store locations and big-name retailers such as Macy’s, Bloomingdales, McDonald’s and much more.

NXP and Stora Enso Partner to Integrate RFID into Packaging Solutions

NXP Semiconductors and Stora Enso have entered into joint development of intelligent packaging solutions. The development will focus on integrating RFID (Radio frequency identification) into packages for consumer engagement and supply chain purposes.

The collaboration will also focus on brand protection and the development of tamper evidence applications. These solutions will benefit both consumers and brand owners.

By using NXP RFID technology such as near field communication (NFC) and ultra-high frequency (UHF), Stora Enso smart packages can be easily tracked and traced through the entire supply chain providing full end-to-end transparency. The integrated technology is also able to detect if the smart package has been tampered with en route to the consumer and, once in the hands of the consumer, can provide additional information and interaction through (the tap of) an NFC-enabled smart phone. This visibility and insight is critical for brands and major manufacturers to ensure their products are being shipped and handled correctly. For consumers the benefits are two-fold; the smart packaging can verify the authenticity of the product and also provide care, usage and other important information via the NFC-enabled tag.

Asia Pacific banks begin testing HCE mobile payments

Several major banks in the Asia Pacific region have begun piloting NFC mobile payment services based on host card emulation, using an end-to-end, cloud-based payments solution put in place by HCE specialist SimplyTapp in partnership with mobile technology solution provider PromptNow and IT solution services provider TIS.

Besides RFID, will Target take credit for penicillin?

It's great when retailers bring new technology innovations to the market. It's even pretty good when they adapt not-so-new innovations to their processes in ways that help customers and/or the bottom line. What isn't so great is taking credit for a technology that's been around for a while — presumably because it makes for a better news release than saying, "We're finally adopting a technology that's been around for a few decades. Yay us!"

RFID and the Supply Chain: How the Technology Is Increasingly Being Used By Procurement

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is one of the major technologies that will become ubiquitous in the supply chain and is poised to have a dramatic impact. RFID technology has actually been around since the 1970s, but it has only started to have a real effect on the supply chain within the past few years, and its use is expected to increase as a means of tracking goods and assets.

Similar to bar codes, RFID identifies “things.” Bar codes require a laser to read a single item within line of sight of the reader. In contrast, RFID technology uses a “reader” and antenna that produces radio waves to read product identification at a short distance and does not require direct line of sight. There are 2 types of RFID tags – active and passive. Active tags have their own power supply and are therefore larger and more expensive. Passive tags attached to items use the radio waves as a low power source when the reader scans them. They have limited capability compared to their active counterparts, but they are tiny in comparison and a fraction of the cost. Passive tags are rapidly becoming a commodity and they generally only add 20 cents to each item’s overall cost.

Mobey Forum Publishes ‘Snapshot of NFC Mobile Payments’ for Banks

The explosion in near field communication (NFC) mobile payments has gifted banks and financial institutions with a variety of deployment options and, at the same time, made the task of selecting the right route to market more complicated than ever. For this reason, Mobey Forum’s latest white paper, ‘NFC Mobile Payments: An Industry Snapshot’, launched today, aims to provide a one-stop-guide to assist the banking industry in contrasting the options currently available.

Brillo is Google's new IoT platform

Every tech company worth its salt is running to get involved in the Internet of Things; Ubuntu is in on it, and Microsoft has teamed up with more than one company to plant its IoT flag. Today Google unveiled its new IoT platform, Brillo. Google is not entirely new to the Internet of Things -- it already has its cloud platform in place and has also acquired Nest. Destined for all manner of connected devices, Brillo is a stripped down and streamlined operating system based on Android. Google has not revealed how its size compares to Huawei's LiteOS, but has said that -- like Android M -- there is a focus on security, and the platform will run on Weave.

Stauff Markets RFID-Based Hydraulic Pressure Measurement System

Measuring the pressure of hydraulic machinery or equipment in a factory or at an industrial site can be the best way to learn how well the machine or other equipment is operating. Excavators, lifting equipment and other types of hydraulic machinery, such as those used at mines or by the timber industry, often experience a change in hydraulic pressure prior to suffering a failure. Equipment operators and owners, however, find that detecting such pressure changes is not always easy. Analog or digital gauges provide measurements, but they can be difficult to access on the machinery and typically cannot transmit that information to the interested parties. In addition, storing a device's pressure-reading history on paper can be time-consuming.

First Electronic Wallet that Takes Protection and Security to Another Level

Devion Falconer has been developing the Electro-Wallet (E-Wallet) for over three years. This is an innovative solution that adds peace of mind and unmatched protection to valuable contents people typically carry in his or her wallets such as credit cards, cash, personal identification, and much more. The creator has developed the final prototype and has a trusted manufacturer ready to produce the E-Wallet. However, he needs seed money to make the first purchase order. He has turned to the crowdfunding community for support. Falconer has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 by June 13th, 2015.

Are QR Codes Thriving or Dying?

It might be the greatest marketing debate of the 2010’s: are QR codes things of the past or the future? The question is more difficult to answer than one would imagine; on one hand, consumers consistently report low QR code use. On the other hand, marketers consistently rate QR codes as being effective. Who are we to believe? Are QR codes thriving or dying?

RFID gateless gantry toll system ahead of schedule

We’ve reported on PLUS’ plans to introduce a gateless gantry toll system (we’ve even shown you pics of what appears to be the system being tested), but works minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof has revealed to The Sun some new details regarding how we will pay toll in the near future. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will be part of the system, which is in its final stage of implementation. It’s expected to be operational by the second quarter next year at highway tolls and border entry points, ahead of its 2018 schedule.

New smart label, or chipless RFID tag, set to kill off the barcode

Imagine filling up your trolley with groceries and rolling out the door. No queues or checkouts. This could be the reality - and completely legal - with Australian researchers developing a "smart label" they hope will supersede the barcode and revolutionise retailing. Associate Professor Nemai Karmakar from Monash University has created a new generation of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that, until now, could not work on products with metal or water. A trial by Coles in 2006 failed because liquids and metals interfered with the signals. He hopes the superior tags will renew the supermarket's interest in the technology.

Cubeacon wants to be Indonesia’s pioneer in iBeacon technology

It’s a rare thing to hear about software-as-a-service (SaaS) ventures from Indonesia, and even more rare to hear about hardware innovation. But Cubeacon combines both. It focuses on customer loyalty management with a hardware component based on Apple’s iBeacon technology. The startup may be so far ahead of the curve in Indonesia that its CEO Tiyo Avianto is focusing Cubeacon’s distribution in the Japanese market for the time being.

China's RFID market value will reach $4.3 billion by 2025

Not only will the use of RFID in China become a $4.3 billion market in 2025, but that figure will almost double if we include the value of tags and readers made in the country and exported elsewhere. Already in 2014 China had 85% of the global manufacture capacity of RFID tags, with over 150 RFID companies operating in the country. In this new report titled RFID in China 2015-2025 , IDTechEx provide a full study and assessment of the prospects of the RFID market in China. The research was carried out by IDTechEx analyst Dr Xiaoxi.

Target will roll out RFID price tags to improve inventory management

Target is turning to radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to make sure shoppers have consistent access to the chain's cheap-chic wares. The Minneapolis-based retailer says it is working with key vendors to begin outfitting price tags with RFID smart labels, which Target hopes will improve inventory accuracy and out-of-stock issues.

Italian zoo visitors walk on the wilder side with iBeacon network

Visitors to Zoom Torino Biopark in Cumiana, Italy will be able to unlock information and rewards on their smartphones thanks to a network of Bluetooth Low Energy beacons that send location-based messages to their devices. “The 160,000 sq meter park now offers a full edutainment experience with Zoom Torino’s new iBeacon-enabled mobile application,” platform provider LabWerk explains.

Auburn University cuts the ribbon on new RFID laboratory

It started with a single project and then a basement laboratory. From modest beginnings, Auburn University launched into the forefront of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Major companies such as Amazon, Target, Avery Dennison and VF Corporation now sponsor RFID research at AU.

To push electric cars, Seoul rolls out portable chargers with RFID

Seoul is trying to put one of the world's highest concentrations of electric vehicles (EVs) on its roads with a project that would let drivers charge their vehicles in residential parking lots and other everyday locations. The city is planning to give out electric charger cables fitted with RFID readers that would allow drivers to recharge their batteries through standard power outlets at 100,000 locations -- a huge increase from current numbers.

RFID Patents Available from ICAP Patent Brokerage

ICAP Patent Brokerage announces for sale patents related to RFID and mobile payments, including systems and methods for configuring an RFID device as a data logger and switchable tags, available from inventor Steven M. Colby. This portfolio is offered as part of the Internet of Things IP Auction, with a bidding deadline of July 30th, 2015.

"This portfolio covers a broad array of RFID related technologies, with an early priority date of 2005. It is an important portfolio for smartphone manufacturers, financial institutions, and credit card, sensor companies, and retail security system companies," says Dean Becker, CEO of ICAP Patent Brokerage.

How Snapchat Made QR Codes Cool Again

Snapchat launched a feature called Snapcodes (also known as Snaptags). Each user now has their Snapchat-branded QR code on their profile that can be opened by pressing the yellow ghost icon atop the camera. If another user scans someone’s Snapcode by focusing their Snapchat app’s camera on it, they automatically follow that person. Now Snapchat tells me millions of Snapcodes are scanned each week.

Stratos smart card replaces the need for a wallet

For the last week, my wallet has felt a bit lighter than normal thanks to a new smart card called the Stratos Card. The swipeable electronic card works with a mobile app to store your credit, debt and gift card information that you can use at any time to pay for purchases. The all-in-one payment card is fairly new and began officially shipping last month. The company’s only real competition is Coin, although other startups such as Plastc, Final, and Swyp offer similar services and are currently taking pre-orders.

RFID Making Electronics Products Easier To Reuse

Sinctronics, a company based in Brazil, is utilising Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to determine the materials in consumer electronics products so that they can maximise the efficiency of disassembly and component separation. The plant is reportedly handling around 100 tons of discarded products every month, but representatives of the company suggest that there is potential to multiply that capacity six times. RFID assists Sinctronics in segregating flows of materials sending off metals to specialist recyclers and recovering the plastics and plastic parts to be re-utilised in new products.

Connect Your Garden to the Internet of Things With Today’s Amazon Deal

The Internet of Things is affecting every area of life and business, including the trucking industry, as reported in a recent article on the Wall Street Journal. Jason Hope, futurist and tech guru, indicates that advancements in data collection in the trucking industry using the Internet of Things shows yet another way that these technology changes are changing the future permanently. According to the April 29 article entitled "Internet of Things Reaches Into the Trucking Business," which Erica E. Phillips wrote, Saia LTL Freight Inc recently enlisted the help of Intel Corp. technology in its 3,000-truck fleet.

Japanese carrier to secure mobile payments with iris scanning phone

Japan’s largest mobile network operator NTT Docomo has unveiled an NFC smartphone that comes equipped with an iris authentication system from Fujitsu that will let owners unlock the device and authenticate mobile payments just by looking at it. “It authenticates a person [with] the pattern of the person’s iris, which is the ring around the pupil of the eye,” Fujitsu explained when the system was first unveiled in March.

Brazilian Recycling Plant Uses RFID to Facilitate Reverse Logistics

Radio frequency identification is part of the set of cutting-edge technologies and innovations adopted by Sinctronics, which calls itself a Green IT Innovation Center. Located in Sorocaba, a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, Sinctronics operates what it says is Brazil's first integrated ecosystem for electronic products, processing 100 tons of discarded equipment per month, and generating raw material for the manufacture of new products, thereby reducing the extraction of natural resources, saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.

SML Group Joins RAIN RFID Alliance

Leading apparel brand identification solution provider, SML Group, announced that it had joined the RAIN RFID Alliance. The collaboration will bring additional strength to RAIN's effort in evangelizing and fostering the advancement of technologies that connect billions of everyday items to the internet, enabling businesses and consumers to identify, locate and authenticate each item.
 The data from these items will help businesses run their operations more efficiently and provide better services to their customers.

The SML Group, which has more than 5000 employees and operations in over 30 countries, delivers RAIN RFID solutions to apparel brands around the world. SML's global footprint, combined with its deep experience in RFID-based item-level solutions, should provide a valuable and unique synergy with the RAIN Alliance thereby contributing to the mass adoption of RFID technology in retail supply chains.

Thinfilm will fight counterfeiting with new NFC tags

Thinfilm Electronics is teaming up with the world’s customs agencies to make a new wireless tag to authenticate products and fight global counterfeiting and piracy. Oslo, Norway-based Thinfilm makes electronic chips that can be printed onto thin plastic rolls, resulting in tags that can be placed like stickers onto products. It’s a replacement for the old bar codes on products, but it works better because it is tamper-proof and can communicate data via near-field communications (NFC), or short-range wireless links, the company said.

E-Pass out, RFID in

Some motorists who use the Skyway elevated tollroad system that spans the Makati to Alabang stretch are chafing over what looks like a shortage in supply of so-called E-Pass devices. This E-Pass unit is a radio device that allows the user to skip long queues at tollbooths thanks to electronic “handshakes” between the device (attached on a vehicle’s windshield) and the entry and exit points of the tollroad. Biz Buzz learned that the owner of the Skyway system—San Miguel Corp.—has begun to phase out the E-Pass in favor of a more efficient and effective system.

Marks & Spencer Expects to Achieve 100 Percent RFID-Tagging by 2017

Global retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is expanding its use of EPC ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology at most of its stores, from 80 percent of its general merchandise toward a goal of tagging 100 percent of goods within the next two years. The company has already been tracking 100 percent of its chilled food items via 10 million tagged food totes as they move through the supply chain and into stores. Last year, M&S reported that all merchandise at 750 of its U.K. store locations will be identified via RFID tags, which will be implemented by spring 2015, and that RFID will be employed by 200 of its factories throughout 20 countries (see Marks & Spencer Embraces Change). The company says that it is very near to achieving these goals. Currently, 100 percent of the clothing it sells is now RFID-tagged, as is half of its homeware items—bedding, bathroom products and soft furnishings.

Petrol Smart Card Programme to Roll Out Mid-June

Amr Badawi, Egypt's Deputy Minister of Finance, has announced that no one will be allowed access to subsidised fuel without using obtaining and presenting a Smart Card at the point of sale. Having rolled out a campaign to ask Egyptian motorists to sign up nearly two years ago, the often postponed scheme is said to go into effect across the country mid-June. The idea is to preempt fuel shortages by curbing 'fuel smuggling' through the monitoring of consumption. The new regulations will apply to all types of vehicles including tuk-tuks, motorcycles and agricultural machinery.

Putting a Stylish Face on RFID Tags

The apparel industry is embracing radio frequency identification with perhaps more ardor than any other sector. Its nearly endless host of stock-keeping units (SKUs), combined with rapid item turnover at the retail level, make apparel inventories notoriously difficult to manage. RFID offers a solution, but one that traditionally involved some undesirable tradeoffs in terms of tagging costs, minimum order requirements and unattractive additional Electronic Product Code (EPC) item tags.
 

RFID Carves Out a Place in Woodworking Industry

When LIGNA, a leading tradeshow for the woodworking industry, opens its doors in Germany, it intends to bring some focus to radio frequency identification and how the sector can use the technology. This is the first year that the trade fair is including an RFID technology demonstration, known as the RFID Factory, to showcase RFID vendors and help educate the woodworking and furniture industries about the technology, says Christian Pfeiffer, LIGNA's director.

EMV Countdown is On: Get Prepped

October of 2015 — the deadline by which merchants must deploy point-of-sale (POS) technology that complies with the Europay/Visa/MasterCard (EMV) standard for chip card acceptance or assume liability for fraudulent transactions — is fast approaching. While Hospitality Technology’s 2015 Restaurant Technology Study revealed that a respective 40 percent and 35 percent of restaurant operators believe they have a well-defined roadmap in place for EMV preparedness or will put a transition plan into place this year, about 25 percent admit that they will not be ready for the transition.

The smart card that finally let me ditch my wallet

Smart, connected cards like the Stratos card are not the future. It’s important that I clarify that right off the bat. These cards offer some very cool functionality, allowing users to store the swipe information from all of their credit cards, debit cards and more on a single device, and then select which card to use on the fly. In time, however, these cards will be made completely obsolete — even once they adopt newer chip and PIN technology. Mobile payment services like Apple Pay will eventually be adopted more widely, and smart cards will become obsolete.

Smartrac Sees RFID's Future in the Cards, the Clouds and the Cosmos

RFID and Near Field Communication (NFC) tag and inlay producer Smartrac is partnering with playing cards company Cartamundi to develop an NFC tag that is small, thin and cheap enough to be embedded in standard cards, such as sports trading cards, playing cards and game cards, that could be used to connect users to Internet-based games. Cartamundi expects to begin offering NFC-enabled cards with the new technology by the end of the year. Smartrac announced the partnership, as well as the release of its new software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution Smart Cosmos, at the RFID Journal LIVE! conference and exhibition, held last month in San Diego, Calif.

A Mass. firm just spent $105M to expand its Internet of Things business

Needham software company PTC Inc. said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire ColdLight, a Pennsylvania-based maker of software that uses analytics to evaluate data from connected devices, for approximately $105 million. PTC said the acquisition of ColdLight’s automated predictive analytics software will bolster PTC’s technology portfolio and extend PTC's venture into the Internet of Things market.

Dutch supplier Hotek Hospitality Group leading in RFID solutions for access control

After being market leader in their own region for over 15 years, and having installed over 1 million hotel locks in 65 countries, it's time for the next step for Hotek Hospitality Group from The Netherlands. Hotek will attend HITEC 2015 in Austin, Texas and present their RFID Upgrade Kits for magnetic card systems to the US market. These upgrade kits are easy to install, and transform outdated magnetic card locks (from several brands) into up-to-date RFID access control systems.

PayPal begins piloting NFC and records 40% growth in mobile payments

Online payments giant PayPal has revealed it is again testing NFC, though the company’s president has made clear that he’d like the company’s platform to be technology agnostic and he doesn’t see the long-term success of NFC as assured. “We are obviously doing trials around NFC ourselves at this point, but I think the real key and the thing I believe in is that any great open technology payments platform has to have, at its heart, this idea of being technology agnostic at the point-of-sale,” PayPal president Dan Schulman told investors during eBay’s first quarter earnings call as the company recorded a 40% year-over-year growth in mobile payment transactions.

Linxens Closes the Acquisition of KnL, Specialist in RFID Antennas

Linxens, a specialist in the design and manufacture of connectors for smart cards, has just completed the acquisition of KnL Group. KnL Group, founded by Yannick Zoccola, Managing Director, in 2010, is located near Bangkok, Thailand. The company specializes in the manufacture of RFID inlays and antennas typically used in banking cards, ID cards, access and transport cards as well as passports.

NFC based mobile payments tipped for 2015 take-off

Deloitte is tipping more than a tenfold increase in the number of smartphones being used to make contactless payments: from just 0.5 percent of NFC-equipped mobile phones in 2014 to five percent of global population of some 650 million NFC capable smartphones by the end of 2015. Deloitte, in its Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2015, says these phones will be "used at least once a month to make contactless in-store payments at retail outlets." Contactless mobile payment will not be mainstream by end-2015, but "niche adoption will be a major progression from near nil in prior years," Deloitte says.

RFID Upgrade Kit Enables Single Tag for Inventory Visibility

An RFID upgrade kit for Checkpoint Systems, Inc.’s EVOLVE iRange P10 antennas is now available, offering retailers a smooth migration to RFID by enabling the use of a single tag for both inventory visibility and loss prevention. The upgrade kit is fitted by Checkpoint Systems service technicians to existing or new P10 antennas. The P10 RFID supports Checkpoint’s unique One Tag approach, enabling retailers to use a single RFID tag for inventory visibility and loss prevention; support for differentiated alarms based on the value of the merchandise leaving the store; and support for Checkpoint’s Wirama Radar for tag-read accuracy, directionality and location. This enables retailers to place merchandise closer to exit doors, minimizing the risk for false alarms.

The first smart card that can replace every card in your wallet starts shipping today

Coin was the first smart card that aimed to replace all of the credit cards in your wallet, but the company ran into manufacturing issues and despite its unveiling in November 2013, the device still hasn’t begun shipping. Plastc is likely the most exciting solution of the bunch, but we still have no idea when it will be released. Stratos is yet another smart card that looks to offer a catch-all solution for the cards in your wallet, but there’s one key difference: It’s actually shipping right now.

Army Training Centers Enlist RFID to Help Track Uniforms

The Fort Leonard Wood Recruit Training Center (RTC), in Missouri, is the first of three U.S. Army recruit training center to adopt a radio frequency identification system to manage items for uniforms it receives from a warehouse near Atlanta, Ga., operated by Lion-Vallen Industries (LVI) on behalf of the Troop Support branch of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). The ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID solution, provided by AdvanTech Inc., enables the RTC and DLA Troop Support to automatically track when clothing items are received at the center, and when they are issued to a soldier.

Good delivers smart card-level authentication to Android phones

Continuing the RSA 2015 theme that hardware-based security delivers better threat protection than software approaches, Good Technology is rolling out what it is calling the industry's first Trusted Execution Environment for enterprise mobility management. Available initially for Android smartphones and tablets, Good's solution protects your log-in credentials in a secure container, separate from Google's operating system. By isolating credentials into a separate container, Good says that even if Android gets compromised, malicious software won't be able to intercept your passwords or PINs.